Sharad Pawar will not be the opposition candidate for the presidency
Veteran Indian leader Sharad Pawar is reluctant to run for the presidency. Power’s name was unanimously proposed at a meeting of the opposition in Delhi on Wednesday. However, the 81-year-old Maratha leader did not agree.
In this situation, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge will talk to other opposition parties and propose a name. The opposition will meet again on June 21. The last date for submission of nomination papers for the post of President is June 29.
According to various sources, two other names were considered in the meeting on Wednesday as Power did not agree. They are Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, the former governor of West Bengal, and Farooq Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Gopalakrishna lost the 2016 vice-presidential election to Venkaiah Naidu of the BJP as an opposition candidate. According to sources, this time Mamata and the Left agree on his name. However, after Wednesday’s meeting, Mamata did not comment to reporters on the names of Gopal Krishna or Farooq Abdullah. He said that if the power does not agree, then everyone will decide the name of the joint opposition candidate.
Mamata was the initiator of Wednesday’s meeting. Although a total of 16 parties including Congress and Left responded to his call, BJD, YSR Congress, Telugu Desam, Akali Dal, Aam Aadmi Party and TRS did not join.
According to sources, Mamata wanted to present a draft proposal at the meeting to form an all-out movement against the BJP government. But objections from other opposition parties did not work. The objection was raised because the meeting was called only to discuss the opposition’s candidacy for the presidency. If all the BJP opposition parties do not agree, the BJP nominee for the presidency will win.
The BJP and its allies need only 13,000 votes less than they need at the moment to win their presidential candidate. With the support of BJD, YSR Congress or TRS, the victory of the BJP candidate is assured with far more votes than required.